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What is Grain?

Grain is an infrastructure solution that makes it possible for companies to create and process contracts and work agreements on the blockchain. They state that transparent contracts are “the backbone of modern work agreements” and they have the potential to significantly reduce a company’s overhead costs while delivering instant payments to employees.

By facilitating work agreements through Grain, a company can cut out expensive middlemen and paycheck services. Meanwhile workers will not have to worry about late payments, which is a particularly big issue for freelancers. This platform can be particularly helpful for chains that are attempting to grow internationally because it can eliminate currency exchange fees.

The roadmap for Grain is not overly detailed, but it states that the idea was developed, the whitepaper released, and the foundation initiated in 2017. In 2018 the public whitelisting and token sale are scheduled to take place in Q1, and the first beta will be released during Q2 while the ICO is listed on the exchange.

How Does Grain Work?

Once the two sides reach an agreement on the details of the work that is going to be performed and the payment, the details are entered into a smart contract. The employee gets to work and once they have completed it the work is delivered and if both sides are satisfied they sign off and the contract is considered settled. After this occurs the funds for payment are instantly transferred to the worker.

The ICO states that the work agreements are based on five core elements that allow them to be consistently effective. These elements are the labor contract, instant payment, harvest or allowing the workers to benefit when Grain succeeds, liquidity insurance protecting against the fluctuating exchange rates, and governance that give them the ability to answer to compliance requirements.

Features and Benefits of Grain

The Grain website offers several potential benefits to using it. First off, they highlight their ability to significantly cut down on the price of labor because they cut out the middlemen and many administrative costs. It also allows companies to pay their contractors in several different currencies without having to face high exchange rates.

The platform can also benefit those that process the transactions and contracts. Transaction partners, as they’re called, receive 50% of the fee that is charged to the users. The taxing work or registering, storing, and settling agreements is done automatically by Grain.

Additionally, Grain states that is can improve the lives of workers as well. Workers can benefit from the success of Grain because they will receive a direct bonus with every transaction they are involved in, and as Grain becomes more successful the liquidity insurance collects profits that are then distributed to the everyone. Its biggest benefit to workers, however, is that it guarantees payment and instantly so workers do not have to live with the risk of getting paid late or not at all for their work.

The Grain Token Sale

The Grain token sale is scheduled to begin on March 1st, 2018 and run for almost the entire month until March 29th. There are some geographical limitations as the USA and China are no allowed to participate. The tokens will be referred to as GRAIN and will come in the form of ERC20. In total, 3,600,000,000 tokens will be created and 30% of them will be made available as part of the token sale.

The ICO’s goal for fundraising is set at $36.7 million. The pre-sale has not yet been conducted so no funds have been reported yet. Only ETH will be accepted as part of the sale and 1 GRAIN is equivalent to $0.0340. The minimum contribution is set at 0.1 ETH, with a maximum contribution amount to be announced later.

A visual breakdown of the token distribution is offered along side the spending plan for the money they raise. 30% of the total tokens will be made available during the token sale, 25% will go into an escrow fund, 24% will go to the foundation, 15% will go to advisors and partnerships, 5% belongs to the founding team, and the final 1% will go to a bounty program. In terms of spending, 35% will go to development, 35% will go to marketing and business development, 20% to reserves, 7% for operations, 2% for legal and security, and 1% for the cost of the token sale.

Who’s Behind Grain?

The CEO and President of the board at Grain is Onno Hektor, who has an impressive resume that includes serving as a senior director at Microsoft. He has co-founded several other companies and was educated at Hanzehogeschool Groningen where he received a BA is Business Economics. Erik Koster is in charge of blockchain strategy while serving as a board member and was educated in at the University of Amsterdam in Information Studies.

Steven Deurloo is the head of law and finance. He is a partner at ThoroFinance, an independent finance firm located in Amsterdam, and is an investor and advisor in several other companies. Philippe Vanderhoydonck oversees marketing and PR, and has extensive experience working as a marketing strategist. In total there are ten team members identified with mini-bios and links to their LinkedIn pages.

The advisory board is made up of five people including the former VP of Microsoft, multiple entrepreneurs, professors, an actuary and risk management professional, and more. They too have short bios and their LinkedIn pages are made available.

Conclusion

There are many companies that have desires to go global but are unable to do so in large part because of the costs associated with finding and paying workers in a different currency. Grain’s idea of functioning as a third-party service that can handle all the heavy lifting on both the contract and payment aspect should definitely have some appeal to a variety of companies. Furthermore, if it is able to deliver on the technology aspect of the platform, there is considerable room for partnerships not just among companies, but popular employment services and job boards as well.

That said, there are some concerns about the viability of Grain. They do not have a functioning product currently, and don’t plan on releasing a beta until after the token sale. Looking to raise $30 million without a developed product is potentially a big risk that could scare away many investors. Also, while the team behind the platform looks strong and experienced, it should be noted that many of them are balancing multiple positions, so it’s unclear how much time they can dedicate to ensuring the success of Grain.

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Peter Lehmann

Peter is a blockchain investor and cryptocurrency writer at Vkool.com. Since 2014 Peter has advised blockchain startups and ICOs on content marketing, strategy and business development.

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